Refugio-Ingleside matchup highlights opening week

Refugio-Ingleside matchup highlights opening week

Michael Zamora/Caller-Times
Refugio's Travis Quintanilla threw for 3,944 yards and 53 touchdowns last season as he helped the Bobcats win a state championship.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

PAUL IVERSON/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES
Ingleside's Marquis Barrolle rushed for 800 yards in just seven games last season.

MICHAEL ZAMORA/CALLER-TIMES
LEFT: Draigon Silvas is back for Refugio after rushing for more than 1,400 yards last season.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

GEORGE TULEY/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES
RIGHT: Ingleside's Tristen Barajas threw for 3,051 yards and 43 touchdowns in 11 games last season. Tonight, he'll go head to head against another prolific quarterback in Quintanilla.

CORPUS CHRISTI - A pair of one-point losses kept Ingleside from what could have been a truly phenomenal season. Refugio had one close call — but it was one too many.

Both coaches felt their teams needed more challenges on the schedules — Ingleside for the purpose of winning those tight games, the Bobcats for the purpose of not having to play a close one at the end.

So, with two of the area's top offenses and quarterbacks in tow, the opening-week spotlight in South Texas squarely is upon defending Class 2A Division II champion Refugio and the 3A Mustangs, who face off at 7:30 tonight at Ingleside.

Both coaches have no problem playing such a difficult game in the opener.

Mustangs coach Graig Hesseltine led his team to a 9-2 record last year, but a 22-21 loss to Sinton cost Ingleside the district title, and a 36-35 heartbreaker to Wharton knocked the team out in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Mustangs set a school record with 564 points scored but didn't even have a playoff victory to show for it. Hesseltine wanted a way to prepare his team for the close ones.

"We scheduled Refugio because we need games like this one to get ready for district and the postseason," Hesseltine said. "Last year, we lost two games by a total of two points. We didn't find ourselves in enough close games."

Bobcats coach Jason Herring found his team getting one close call too many — that coming in the state title game, where Refugio beat Cisco by one point.

That one-point victory has stuck with Herring more than the 50-point-a-game average margin of victory leading into the title contest. The team's closest game until the third round of the postseason was a 19-point victory. It was 17 points in the third round.

"We wanted to play good people," Herring said. "Ingleside, Edna, Lago Vista — all three in the playoffs, all very talented.

"What makes it stand out playing Ingleside is that you're playing a 3A school with 500-600 kids, and we have 199. Anybody with any sense can figure out that choosing 11 kids from 199 is different from 500. They're big, fast, physical, strong, execute well, well-coached. This is what high school football is about."

Hesseltine agrees — but he will disagree about the size of the schools being a big deal.

"That doesn't mean a whole lot," Hesseltine said. "They're state champions and have athletes all over the field. Coach Herring and I talked this week, and he said, 'How do you slow some of these guys down?' But he's got some of those guys himself."

Each team has more than a few familiar faces returning. Refugio, which set a state record with 891 points scored last season, returns 12 starters, including quarterback Travis Quintanilla, who threw for 3,944 yards and 53 touchdowns in 15 games. Ingleside welcomes back 11 starters, among them quarterback Tristen Barajas, who passed for 3,051 yards and 43 touchdowns in 11 contests.

Both also return dynamic running backs. The Bobcats welcome back Draigon Silvas and his 1,400-plus rushing yards, while the Mustangs enjoy the return of Marquise Barrolle, who had 800 yards in seven games last year.

But, like nearly every team in the state, each team has a few things to figure out. Refugio lost playmakers Lynx Hawthorne, Shiloh Whetsel and Cory Brown, who totaled more than 1,600 rushing yards and 2,800 receiving yards, while Ingleside no longer has the McHugh twins — David and Matt — and Austin Barajas, with the trio accounting for 70 percent of the team's receiving yards last season.

"They throw the ball as well as anybody we've played in a long time," Herring said. "Their quarterback reminds me of ours — he makes throws. They have four or five receivers who can go get the ball.

"I don't have to give them a 'rah, rah' speech. They're focused and ready to go."